“It’s a great opportunity to work in a country that is rich in economic resources, in one of the most important cities of the Middle East and receive high-quality management training.”
After a long selection process involving both group and individual interviews, LUISS graduates Pierpaolo Giovannitti and Matteo Zavattaro have been selected from over 400 candidates to work in the offices of Etihad Airways for two years through the Graduate Management Development Programme in partnership with Alitalia.
Matteo Zavattaro, who completed a master’s program in General Management with full honors in 2014 following a bachelor’s program in Economics and Management, applied for the program immediately after graduation. “During my university career I participated in two international programs, one with WHU School of Management in Koblenz, the other at FGV in Rio de Janeiro. Through these experiences I improved my fluency in foreign languages and got used to living and working in international environments. However, what prepared me most for the Alitalia selection process were the seminars organized by the LUISS Office of Career Services on resume writing and interviewing techniques. They taught me to clearly express my strengths.”
After graduating will full marks and honors in International Relations, Pierpaolo Giovannitti has been chosen for a position in Human Resources. “I have already done an internship in the Global Employment Initiative Office of the American Embassy. Thanks to Career Services I found a job in Human Resources at Colgate-Palmolive and I also worked as a Head Hunter for Human Value. Then, in February, my life changed."
The selection process for the Alitalia Graduate Programme was divided into different phases, after an initial resume screening and an online aptitude test (with questions on logic, mathematics, reading comprehension and English), we were invited to Alitalia’s offices at Fiumicino Airport. We were divided into small groups and given projects on airline business. We then had individual interviews with Alitalia’s HR under the supervision of Etihad representatives. Finally, we were invited to have a final interview with the Senior Manager of Alitalia.” At the end of the three-month process, 24 candidates were selected.
In March 2015, Matteo and Pierpaolo left for Abu Dhabi for the first phase of the program. “In the first four months we took classes on aviation and the development of management skills. We also worked on a project to develop a new destination in the Etihad network.” In August, Matteo will begin in the Finance Department, where he will do a rotation in Financial Reporting and Financial Planning while Pierpaolo will be assigned to Reward Policies, Recruiting, and Learning and Development.
At the end of this phase, Matteo and Pierpaolo will have to do a business-based project focusing on improvements in their sector before concluding the program by working with Alitalia. “This experience has had a profound effect on me, both personally and professionally” says Pierpaolo, “but I can’t wait to move back to Italy to show that LUISS graduates can truly represent the future management class. I want to learn as much as possible about the dynamics of a large company in a strong growth phase, to then apply my knowledge to help Alitalia become, paraphrasing Etihad CEO James Hogan ‘the largest European airline.’”